This application claims priority from French patent application 00.09473, filed on Jul. 16, 2001, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
1. Technical Field
The invention relates to the field of sports articles and, in particular, to gliding sports. It refers more particularly to a clamping device used on sports articles such as snowboard bindings, ski boots, roller skates or even harnesses. More specifically it relates to a particular geometry of certain mechanisms using notched tongues, the configuration of which facilitates use.
In the rest of the description, the invention is more particularly described in its application to a snowboard, but it may also be transposed to other, different sports articles which use clamping systems similar to those used on snowboard bindings.
2. Prior Art
Certain snowboard bindings, generally called xe2x80x9cshellxe2x80x9d bindings, have straps which pass over the foot so as to keep it pressed into the binding. These straps are generally adjustable in terms of their length so that they can be adapted to all boot configurations. One example of this type of strap is described in document WO 97/28859. These straps include two parts, namely a first part formed by a rectilinear notched tongue which is fixed on one side of the binding and, on the other side of the binding, the strap comprises a part which passes over the foot, ending in a pawl system.
More precisely, the rectilinear tongue is placed between the walls of a guide on which a pawl is articulated. This pawl interacts with the notches of the notched tongue in order to prevent the strap from loosening. The walls of the guide are separated by a distance equal to the width of the notched tongue, in order to prevent any mechanical play and to prevent the notched tongue from being displaced laterally in the guide.
This need to limit the mechanical play of the tongue inside the guide thus leads to it being necessary to have a tongue of the same width as the guide. In point of fact, this arrangement does not facilitate the insertion of the tongue into the guide, since it is necessary for the user to adjust the tongue very precisely when he wishes to push it into the guide. These operations are all the more awkward because the user is generally wearing gloves, which makes him less precise in his movements.
A problem that the invention thus proposes to solve is that of making the absence of lateral play of the tongue inside the guide compatible with ease of positioning the tongue in the guide.
A solution to this problem has already been proposed, as illustrated in document FR 2 758 057. Thus, the tongue used on the binding described in that document has an end cut in the shape of a triangle, thus being narrower at its end which is the first to come into contact with the guide. This solution offers limited efficiency, since it is important for the pointed part of the tongue to be inserted into the width of the guide so that the centring effect can take place. Moreover, such a solution is all the more effective when the tongue is cut into a point and when it thus has an acute angle which possibly risks causing injury. This tongue is also relatively fragile.
The invention thus relates to a device for clamping together two parts of a sports article.
Such a device includes, in a known manner:
a rectilinear notched tongue, integral with a first part of the sports article;
a guide integral with the second part of the sports article, said guide having two walls between which said tongue is able to slide;
a pawl articulated on the guide, capable of interacting with the notched tongue in order to immobilize it in position relative to the guide.
According to the invention, the device is characterized in that it also includes a complementary piece interacting with at least one part of the outer faces of the guide, and of which the portion located on the side with the opening of the guide via which the tongue is inserted includes two divergent walls which flare out and extend beyond the opening of the guide.
In other words, the device which immobilizes the tongue includes a centring piece of which a part forms an opening for the insertion of the tongue, markedly wider than the opening of the actual guide. In this way, when the user brings the tongue close to the characteristic piece, even if the tongue is not perfectly in line with the axis of the guide, its end comes into contact with the characteristic divergent walls. The tongue is thus recentred and guided as far as the entry to the guide, in which it is positioned without lateral play.
Thus, irrespective of the shape of the end of the tongue, the tongue is successfully inserted into the guide more easily and more rapidly.
In a particular embodiment, the guide is nested in the complementary piece, the divergent walls of which extend via lateral walls opposite the walls of the guide. In other words, the complementary piece surrounds the underneath of the guide and covers over the lateral faces of the latter. This complementary piece may, for example, be produced by overmoulding on the guide, which may be metallic.
In this way, raising of the guide inside the complementary piece is prevented.
Thus, the guide is properly held inside the complementary piece. This holding may be further improved by using centring means provided on the guide and the complementary piece.
These centring means may, for example, be formed by a stud and a corresponding aperture which are located on the guide and on the complementary piece.
In this way, any longitudinal displacement of the guide inside the complementary piece is prevented.
This immobilizing of the guide relative to the complementary piece may be further improved if the walls of the guide extend via divergent walls in contact with a part of the inner faces of the divergent walls of the complementary piece. In other words, close to the opening of the guide, the parallel lateral walls of the latter may flare out slightly and nest partially in the divergent walls of the complementary piece. In this configuration, any relative movement of the guide and the complementary piece is prevented.
Advantageously, in practice, the lateral walls of the complementary piece may form zones for gripping the guide. In other words, the movements of the pawl and of the other movable pieces associated with the guide may be facilitated by efficient gripping of the complementary piece and thus of the guide. The outer faces of the lateral walls of the complementary piece are therefore configured ergonomically in order to allow the user""s fingers to take hold.
In a particular embodiment, the two lateral walls of the complementary piece are asymmetrical. In other words, the two gripping zones present on either side of the guide are not located at the same longitudinal level of the complementary piece, but are, on the contrary, offset, in order to adapt to the difference in length between a thumb and forefinger. The gripping zone for receiving the pressure of the forefinger is located closer to the opening of the guide than that for receiving the pressure of the thumb.
Various pieces may be fitted onto the guide to ensure various types of interaction with a tongue. Thus, the guide may include a lever interacting with the tongue in order to cause the latter to advance in the guide. In other words, when actuated, this supplementary lever pushes the tongue back inside the guide, thereby increasing the clamping effect. The pawl, moreover, immobilizes the tongue, not opposing its advance into the guide but preventing its withdrawal.
In other embodiments, the tongue is associated with an articulated buckle which is integral with the tongue and which ensures the displacement of the latter inside the guide when actuated by the user. In other words, the movement of this articulated buckle gives rise to the displacement of the tongue in the direction of insertion, which enables it to penetrate the guide and to interact with the pawl. When the user folds the buckle back or, more generally, moves it, he exerts a pulling action on the tongue in the opposite direction from its insertion into the guide. This movement is thwarted by the pawl, which ensures clamping.
The reverse arrangement may also be adopted. In this case, the guide and the pawl are associated with a buckle. Movement of the buckle displaces the guide and the complementary piece towards the tongue, which is fixed.
The characteristic, complementary piece of the invention may form an integral part of a new-concept immobilizing system, or alternatively, be added under the guide of an existing system, so as to improve the functioning of the latter.
The clamping device according to the invention may be applied particularly advantageously as equipment for snowboard bindings. In this case, the device is fitted to clamp together the two parts of a strap.
The device according to the invention may also be fitted onto a gliding-sport boot, such as a downhill ski boot, a cross-country ski boot, a snowboard boot or the like, and even to a roller skate or an ice skate. In this case, the device is used to clamp together two flaps of the boot, a first flap carrying the tongue, the other flap carrying the guide and the characteristic complementary piece.